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Drinks Food & Drink

Five dark Toronto beers (and one lighter specialty) to try this winter

December’s the time for robust, comforting seasonal beers and there are plenty of Toronto breweries making them. Darker in flavour or higher in alcohol are the qualities you’re looking for to take the chill out of your bones in what’s turning out to be a humid and slightly foggy start to the season. In the face of sleet and drizzle, light beer just isn’t going to cut it. Here are four dark Toronto beers (with one exception) to commiserate or celebrate with on a long winter evening. 

Rorschach Decadence Salted Caramel Latte Chocolate Milk Stout

Rorschach’s lineup of pastry stouts under the Decadence handle feature novel ingredients based on seasonality. At the moment, they have gingerbread and candy cane versions available. This version, however, is the most successful from a flavour integration standpoint. It’s like sipping a high quality caramel macchiato, although somehow less expensive.

$3.72/355 ml. Get it at Rorschach Brewing Co. (1001 Eastern, rorschachbrewing.com). Free delivery on orders over $50.

Longslice Slickback Stout

Housed within the Aviary in the Canary District, it’s easy to overlook Longslice – but Slickback deserves attention. With a profound amount of roasted barley, you get earthy, woody tones alongside tobacco, leather and a whiff of smoke in a comparatively light body. Quite the thing for fireside sipping, or, more likely, the Yule Log TV Channel.

$2.96/473 ml. Get it at Longslice Brewery (484 Front East, longslice.com). Free delivery to M postal codes over $20.

Indie Alehouse Breakfast Porter

This is the only beer made by Indie that hasn’t had a recipe change since its launch a decade ago, and for good reason. The “breakfast” part refers to the fact that the beer is made with oats, allowing for a velvet-smooth palate with deep notes of chocolate, coffee and a touch of molasses. If you’re looking for something bigger, you might want a ticket to the brewpub’s Stout Night event on December 18 (tickets at universe.com), featuring a lineup of some of the province’s best breweries.

$5.30/500 ml. Get it at Indie Alehouse(2876 Dundas West, indiealehouse.com). Free local delivery in Toronto.

Avling Wine Dark Sea

Given Avling’s Scandinavian influences, you might think they’d go for an Edda rather than a Homeric allusion in this beer’s name, but the Gamay character evident from the time the beer has spent on grape skins demands it. Typical darker malt flavours meld with notes of plum, black cherry and oaked barrel character to create a rich, rewarding experience you can really sink into. The slight tannin combines with the roast to create a slightly drying, elegant finish.
$17/750 ml. Get it at Avling Brewery (1042 Queen East, shop.avling.ca). Free delivery across Ontario on orders of $50 or more.

Godspeed Kintsugi

Named for the practice of fixing broken pottery with gold or silver, Kintsugi is a departure from the theme – something light and exuberant to salvage from the pieces of a long year. Fully four years in the making, this is a blend of Godspeed’s flagship beers and West Avenue’s flagship cider aged in wood and steel before conditioning in bottle. Delicately tart, playfully dry and considerably nuanced. It turns out the cracks are how the light gets in.

$15/500 ml. Get it at Godspeed Brewery (242 Coxwell, godspeedbrewery.com). Free delivery over $75 in M2-M9 postal codes. 

@saints_gambit

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